Securing international pharmaceutical contracts led to a strong year for medical device manufacturer Bespak, with revenue topping £120m.

The King’s Lynn-headquartered company saw turnover grow by 3.3% to £121.1m in the year to April 30, 2017 while earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose by 3.9% to £26.1m, according to its parent company Consort Medical’s most recently filed accounts. A strategic report accompanying the accounts said the year saw Bespak secure a “landmark deal” to manufacture its Syrina and Vapoursoft injectable devices for a global biopharmaceuticals company.

Consort Medical also signed a contract with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca to supply it with Bespak’s proprietary respiratory devices, while the firm’s second injectable device, a pre-filled pen, was launched successfully in the UK and other European markets.

The financial year also saw a contract to manufacture nicotine inhalation devices for Nicovations fall through, but the report said Bespak’s growth despite the setback “demonstrates the strength of the business through its broad range of programmes”.

Bespak, a member of the EDP/EADT Top 100 list of Norfolk and Suffolk’s biggest companies by turnover, develops and manufactures devices for administering drugs through respiration or injection. It moulds around 2.6 billion components and produces 550 million devices annually.

It has a further 15 major device programmes in the pipeline, with research and development spending totalling £6m in the last financial year.

A strategic report with Bespak Europe’s latest filing on Companies House said it was increasing the breadth of its offering in the metered dose inhaler market, as well as working with major pharmaceutical companies to develop new dry powder inhaler technologies.

A letter accompanying Consort Medical’s annual report, signed by chairman Dr Peter Fellner, said performance for the group was “expected to be broadly in line with our near-term expectations for the current financial year, despite some headwinds from contract phasing”.

Bespak employs around 950 people between its King’s Lynn, Cambridge and Nelson (Lancashire) sites.

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